a massive search has ended in southern california a group that police feared was planning a cult-like mass suicide has actually been found alive and well. thelma gutierrez has been following this story and joins us now boy phone. thelma, what more have we learned about this church group? >> reporter: fred, i can tell you that one of the women is being questioned by detectives right now about the nature of this group were they in fact, a cult or did they breakaway from a more traditional church to form their own prayer group. here is what we know. the sheriff's department told us it was an absolutely great sunday, he said everyone is okay, no crimes have been committed, despite the fact that there was a huge national manhunt taking place for the five women and eight children and fred, the way that it came to the attention of authorities that they were finding is that apparently, there was somebody here at the park, they recognized the cars and they saw

this group of 13 sitting under a tree, on the grass, praying. they immediately called authorities, authorities came out to this park and found that they were fine. and you could imagine, as we roll in, the press, all the sheriff cars, the look of surprise on the faces of this group of people who are sitting on the grass praying. unbeknownst to them, there was a manhunt going on and one of the women told me in spanish, she was surprised and annoyed that there was all this attention being paid to what was happening because she said we were perfectly okay, we were never in harm's way, we were out in the desert praying. >> give me an idea why police felt this was critical enough to involve so many law enforcement officers to look for these members of this church, just because one family member called and said they saw a purse and there was a note and it was alarming to them and so then

there was this all-out search for these people? >> well, fred, what the sheriff's spokesperson told us, he said it was a combination of circumstances, basically, you have two spouses coming in who were concerned and they say, you know, our wives are out to the desert with all of these children, they belong to this prayer group, we are not sure what they might be up to. and here's what they left behind. they produced, you know, cell phones for five adults that were on the street -- what was really interesting, the note, at first they characterized these notes as being good-bye note. when we asked the sheriff's spokesperson about this, he said they weren't really good-bye notes, they were notes that had inspirational word as well on them. what that means, i'm not exactly sure, but he said they weren't good-bye note and said, you know, they were very concerned that perhaps these people were on their way out to the desert to hurt themselves and hurt the children, so he said we wanted

to err on the side of caution. that is why we initiated this manhunt. >> thelma gutierrez from palmdale, california. thanks so much. let's talk about hurricane igor now. it is barrelling toward bermuda at this hour. the category 1 storm is already lashing the islands with intense winds and rain and cnn meteorologist reynolds wolf is live in the thick of this joining us live from elbow beach, bermuda. reynolds? >> reporter: that's right, frederica, we are getting a little bit of a break right now in terms of precipitation, you might see some rain drops across the screen at home. the biggest thing we have again b been getting is wind. although igor is quite a distance off it is a huge storm. view airs cross america, not that familiar with bermuda, bermuda consists of 138 very small islands. if you were to cram they will all together it would equal

about one-third the size of igor is huge. the way the latest path looks it appears the eye will make the landfall in the far western part of bermuda or come very close. either way that happens, we should still get the full brunt of it at least the northeast quadrant of the storm, which is going to bring the strongest wind as well, heaviest rainfall and some massive waves much the waves affected this area in terms of power outages. the population of the island, about 67,000 people. half at this time without power. many of the major roads are closed down. the main causeway connecting parts of bermuda also shut down. people are advised to stay at home. we actually went out, scouted around a bit. this is what we saw. [ inaudible ] it spun its way across the

atlantic, getting close to bermuda and now, the outer bands, the strongest winds, the heaviest waves are right here at the doorstep of this island. i'm coming to you from ashwood cove, bermuda, this area is getting jack hammered by hurricane igor in bermuda. the strongest part of the storm is yet to come. immense waves keep battering the shoreline. the wind strong at times. tropical storm-force gusts coming on shore. we pan over just a little bit, you can see the sheer power on the rocks. white caps as far as you can go in the horizon, closer to shore, see all that foam. while the coastline is getting ravaged, the city of hamilton is a ghost town. take a look, you see a few

people out and about dodging the elements, out of curiosity seeing the way this place has transformed the last 12 to 24 hours. what we can expect is as the storm pulls awake a, as it drifts more to the north overnight into tomorrow, of course into tuesday, things are slowly going to get become to normal, by monday or tuesday the airports should open that is went cleanup begins, the power restoration begins and let me tell you, frederica, they've huge job ahead of them. let's send it back to you in the studio. >> we know the cleanup often means picking up after all those downed trees, power lines. jacqui jeras in the hurricane weather center. unfortunately, that will be the extent of it, if they are lucky enough to get through this igor. >> hopefully so some spotty communication become and forth already and we are getting reports that thousands of people are without power, maybe even as much as half the population. >> hopefully no structural damage. >> hopefully not. bermuda is -- they do an incredible job in terms of

hurricane-proofing their structures. >> good. >> a all right of the homes and building there is are made out of concrete and designed to withstand a category 3 or more storm and that is because, well, when tough evacuate, going inland, it is only 20 miles wide, the biggest island. so unfortunately, you know, tough pretty much take an airplane. observations looking at wind gusts 74 miles per hour, quite a lark, a very large storm. the center of circulation 85 miles now to the south and west of bermuda, heading to the north. all signs now are pointing to not a landfall on this storm but still getting quite a lashing from those winds and the waves. weakening in the last couple of hours, maximum winds 80 miles per hour, down from 85 last advisory you not much but you

take any little bit you can get there, most certainly. here is that forecast track, bringing it up to the north and then curving to the north and east and we don't think it will make that curve until after it passes bermuda, which is good news that mean it is not going to get closer to the island there in terms of get anything of those direct hits. there you can see we were talking about those outer bands, remember how reynolds was saying that we are getting a little bit of a break, this is ber into you had da here there were some bands that moved on through and now they are going to have a little bit of a break until that next line begins to move through. and when you get those squalls like that, that's went winds really begin to pick up. things active in the pacific basin as well. these are pitch out of taiwan with. this was called a typhoon. winds 120 miles per hour. causing damage there before our very eyes, about three feet of

rain has been reported in some of these areas with the number of injuries as well. this typhoon is now moving toward china and, of course, those folks there bracing for the potential of flooding as well. three fete of rain? >> three feet. >> extraordinary. >> hard to imagine, isn't it? >> i imagine the drainage system is not that reliable. >> probably not. >> all right. thanks so much, jacqui. appreciate that. it has been quiet the weekend for politics, we have heard about one candidate dabbling in witchcraft. value voters picking their presidential favorite. plus, we have a sitting senator who has now chosen to run as write-in candidate to keep her seat. >> y'all know that i went back to washington a couple of days ago. the land of [ inaudible ] these outside interest groups like the

tea party express, the pundits. all the political guys, they tell me that this can't be done this is a futile effort. well, perhaps it is one time that they met one republican woman who won't quit on alaska. >> cnn deputy political director is joining us now from washington. good to see you. so senator murkowski, back out today, talking about her bid to regain this seat and there are others who have some strong opinions about whether this is going to be, i guess, a futile or fairly legitimate campaign. >> start with some history, fred, 1954 the last time a write-in candidate in a senate election ron, strom thurmond in south carolina, a long, long time. the republican party now, backing her in the primary, not backing her anymore, backing the nominee, the tea-party supported

joe miller, you heard murkowski have word about the tea party. sarah palin backing miller and going against murkowski as well as senator jim demint, one of the top conservative senators. you are right, murkowski was on state of the union with candy crowley and talk about maybe a civil war in the republican party. take a listen. >> do you think he started a civil war inside the republican party? >> you know, is it a civil war? i don't know. i think that he has made people uncomfortable. i think that he has kind of rattled the cages, whether it advances to a full-on civil war, i don't know. >> i will tell you this. the only -- the only reason we have a chance at a majority now is a large part for the candidates that i have been supporting. candy, if the republican party in the senate was now symbolized by arlen specter and charlie crist, we would not have the energy behind our candidates anywhere in the country. >> i tell you one thing whether it is a civil war or not, the

grassroots is really in a way, kind of like the tail wagging the dog. i mean it is the grassroots, the tea party movement, they are the ones with all the energy right now in the republican party and winning a a lot of these primary contest over establishment candidates. >> that is right. you know, one of the latest examples, christine o'donnell out of delaware, won the nomination, she got the backing of the tea party mom. and i wonder if jim demint or anyone holes is in great support of the tea party movement had anything to say about now her comments back in 1999, about dabbling in witchcraft? >> yeah, her comments on witchcraft, her comments about masturbation and a lot of other things is making a lot of us in now i guess there are maybe skeletons in the closet. in the '90s, she was a spokesperson for social conservative causes. jamie mcmichael can you look at this? christine o'donnell is our top story on cnnpolitics.com. check this out. the democrats aren't wasting time, a brand new press release

from the democratic senatorial campaign committee. out today with a new ad in delaware, going up against o'donnell, not what we were discuss bus her fiscally irresponsible problems, as the democrats say. they are attacking her right now, not waste anything time. an interesting race to watch in delaware, fred. >> mean tame, also a straw poll yesterday at the value voters summit. mike pence of indiana won as the pick, the one who should become a presidential candidate, followed by other familiar names, newt gingrich, mike huckabee, et cetera. >> this was a surprise no doubt about t we have had a list of maybe 15 people who we think may want to run, may want to run for the republican nomination. pence is on there not one of the big names, one of the house republican leaders from indiana. you know, last year, mike huckabee, romney, page, the big names, a lot of people are going to be paying attention to mike pence thanks to his win yesterday in that straw poll at the major conservative

conference. take the straw polls with a grain of salt, fred. >> all right, paul steinhauser, thanks so much joining us from washington much appreciate that. all right. back on american soil now, freed hiker sarah shourd speaks out. we will tell you what she said about herself and her still imprisoned companioned. i want to give my 5 employees health insurance,

but i just can't afford it. i have diabetes. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance. when i graduated from college, i lost my health insurance. the minute i got sick, i lost my insurance. not anymore. not anymore. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to find out how it can help you, visit us at americasfairhealthcare.org it's not just fair, it's the law.

back now on u.s. soil, freed american hiker sarah shourd is calling the release of her companions. shourd spoke to reporters in new york this afternoon and she offer and emotional plea for the release of shane bauer and josh fattal, still in an iranian jail. cnn national correspondent susan candiotti was there and joining us again now from new york. susan? >> hi, fred. she says that her spirit is bruise bud not broken. sarah shourd may be free but now is not the time to celebrate. shourd landed in washington, d.c. this morning and made her way to new york city for today's press conference much reading from a prepared same, shourd shared a little bit more about what happened the day she and her friends were detained in iran. she says the three had no idea louse close they were to the

border and it was unmarked. she never dream she had would be a prisoner. her freedom has not come easily with her fiance and friend still sitting in an iranian prison. >> i stand before you today only one-third free. that was the last thing that josh said to me before i walked through the prison doors. josh and shane felt one-third free at that moment and so did i. the only thing that enabled me to cross the gulf from prison to freedom alone was the knowledge that -- nothing but joy at my release and that, more than anything, is testimony to the selflessness and beauty of their spirits. >> reporter: now the mothers of her two companions, one of them, of course, her fiance, says the day has been bittersweet for them as well. all of them pledge to continue to lobby for the release of the others.

one of the mothers told me she believes the truth will prevail. at the same time, president ahmadinejad from iran is in new york city for the united nations general assembly. he is give nothing indication that more releases are coming n fact, an iranian prosecutor bringing spy charges against the two others in recent weeks. and the other thing we also wanted to mention is we asked about how they were all treated. sarah didn't take any questions. we asked the mothers but they said they did not have a chance to have a long chat with her, it has been a very long day and she is now resting. >> susan candiotti in new york. thanks so much for that update. well, they are tlurtd united states by false promises, then they are forced into prostitution. i'm talking about young ladies. straight ahead, a behind-the-scenes look at how the sex trade exploits women and girls from other countries. ♪

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eating healthy can be tough when you are on a strict budget but it doesn't have to be. dr. sanjay gupta gets some tips from famed french chef, eric ripert. >> reporter: with the economy in a slump, families are struggling to make ends meet, but you don't have to sacrifice good nutrition. where better to look for tips on healthy living on the cheap than a five-star french chef? >> it is easy to find ways to eat for a budget, which is not too expensive good food. >> reporter: world-renowned chef eric ripert says it is all about doing what works for you. >> you can buy a chicken, which is very inexpensive. instead of buying the chicken

already cut or cooked, you can buy it whole and therefore, you save a lot of money. if you want something healthy and something inexpensive, you have to think seasonal. if you want to eat tomatoes -- if in january you eat root vegetables, make a soup with a squash it is going to be very inexpensive. >> reporter: how does this french chef extrordinaire stay healthy himself surrounded by top-notch cuisine all day long? >> just before i leave the house, i have a little bit of dark chocolate, very good quality. i leave my house around 10:00. and i walk through the streets of new york. it takes about 40, 45 minutes, i think it keeps me in good health and in shape. >> reporter: bottom line, says rib the -- >> i am a strong believer that you can do a lot of things, in terms of eating, which is you can eat a burger, you can eat

chocolate, you can have dessert here and there but again, it has to be in a quantity that is controlled and you have to compensate with some exercise. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting.

a look at our top stories this afternoon, the bp well is officially sealed shut a pressure test on the concrete poured into the well was successful this morning. president barack obama commended crews for finishing the job but also said a lot still has to be done to make sure the gulf coast fully recovers from the oil disaster. and a massive search has ended in southern california a group that police feared was

planning a cult-like mass suicide has actually been found, praying at a park. authorities had been scouring the palmdale area of northern los angeles county on horse become and by helicopter in search of the group. it included eight children between the ages of 3 and 17. chilean president sebastian pinera visited the mine site today where 33 miners have been trapped over a month. he was able to speak to the miners through a cable hookup and advice which is the their families. the president also saw the powerful drills working to free the miners. today is also the first day a all -- some unusual animals and a flexible granny have earned a spot in the history books. they are the latest inductees into the guinness world records and earlier, i levs about the w

winners and categories. stuff to make us laugh. >> i love doing the show, the most fun stuff. the animal least likely to be named fluffy, longest snake in the world. look at the picture. this is winning -- that is one python. >> no. >> look at the thing, ret tick lated python. >> from where? >> the columbus zoo in ohio. >> what? it is 24 feet long, 7.3 meters long. one snake. >> where do they get that sucker from? that is huge. >> can you believe? what is fluffy about it. >> that is the name, fluffy? oh that is little lairious. >> i love t something more likely to be named fluffy this jack russell terrier, see that is what you were thinking. >> you know, not really a good name for a terrier. you know? >> look at this terrier. >> go ahead. >> this terrier named anastasia in california on in the book for popping 100 balloons in the fastest time by a dog, 44.49

seconds. they will give records to anything. apparently, anastasia sees a balloon in public, she goes wild and has to pop all of them. >> i am sure that can be misinterpreted, went out in public a lot of energy. they do and apparently, a record now popping balloon it is you are a terrier. all right. >> was this a category created for this one with, surely there was into the previous record this dog broke? balloons, that has to be a one-time thing. >> now competition with the terrier. >> okay. >> also one you wouldn't think would be in there the oldest robatic salsa dancer in the world. >> okay. >> take a look at her. a grandmother named patty jones. >> mama. >> starbridge, in england, who scooped the title, 76, she has a retirement home in spain and argentinian show about dancing, soon to be a great-grandmother, now in the guinness book of world records. >> my gosh, she is amazing. >> look at that.

>> oh, my gosh. oh, 76. >> go grandma. >> brilliant. >> proud of her. facebook and twitter, you can see all the records yourself, maybe you will be inspired, want to break one of them. >> you said acrobatic salsa? >> acrobatic salsa, 76 years old about to be a great-grandmother. >> like forget the tango, a little too mellow for me. i go for the acrobatic stuff. >> you didn't know you would be inspired by one of the whacky, world records. >> i am inspired by her, maybe not the terrier but i am inspired by her. >> i am flying to ohio to meet fluffy. >> you there go a good source of inspiration, too. josh, thanks. good to see you. it's beneful incredibites. uh-huh! it's just the way you like it-- made with wholesome grains, real beef, even carrots and peas. you love the smaller-size, easy-to-chew kibbles, and i love the carbohydrates for energy and protein for muscles. whoa! wait for me! ha-ha. you only think you're getting spoiled.

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to find out how it can help you, visit us at americasfairhealthcare.org it's not just fair, it's the law. last hour, we told but a mexican girl lured to the united states and forced into prostitution. sadly, her story isn't all that

unusual. cnn's senior latin american affairs editor, rafael roam mothers explains. >> reporter: his name is cortez mesa. the 36-year-old mexican national is charged with involvement in a prostitution ring placed in the atlanta area that victimized women and girls smuggled from mexico, some as young as 14. >> they were brought in with a romantic promises, job promises, young girls from a certain state of mexico, brought up, smuggled in, immediately forced into prostitution. >> reporter: immigration and customs enforcement special agent brock nicholson says four members of the same family were involved in the prostitution ring. 27-year-old, who has admitted one count of you providing false information, drove victims to several secret locations in one area, forcing them to see multiple clients per day, they were kept locked up in several houses.

>> the houses had bars on the windows, locks on the outside of the door, we find 11 additional victims, ranging in age from 14 to 28. all confirmed victims, all trafficked for the purpose of prostitution. >> reporter: this case offers a glimpse into how these rings operate. >> a a lot of word of mouth and a lot of the word of mouth actually comes with these little business cards that often have something very innocuous on them that you only would know it is a business card for a prostitution ring if somebody had whisper it had to you. >> reporter: as the former prosecutor, he says the level of cruelty of these prostitution rings is hard to imagine. >> we have situations in the united states, cases that i have worked on when i was with the justice department involving women who had to service up to 50 customers a day. just a crushing amount of what

is, in effect is a daily set of rapes. >> reporter: we found a mexican woman who was only 15 years old when she became a victim. her boyfriend in mexico promised a good life in the united states and smuggled her through the border. once here, she was forced into prostitution. she agreed to talk us to on the condition that we protect her identity. [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: claudia, not her real name, describes to us a world of abuse and beatings, drugs, forced sex and sleepless nights with strangers.

>> reporter: the social worker who works with law enrzment agencies to rescue victims of human trafficking who come from all over the world. it must be really difficult for you to see the situations in which the victims come to you. >> specifically sexual exploitation and more so seeing minors go through this and realizing their lives are never gonna be the same that they are going to be scarred forever. >> what is the greatest challenge that you guys face when you're trying to help a victim in this situation? >> the greatest challenge that we have is getting the victim to actually admit that they are a victim. they have been brainwashed by the traffickers for so long and told that the trafficker is the only person that they can trust.

>> reporter: back to the suspects in the atlanta case, those accused of human trafficking have pled not guilty. their trial is due to begin in november. rafael ramos, cn in the, atlanta. >> we are telling but these stories because september is human trafficking month and time to make you more aware than you have been. according to the u.n. global compact.org, an estimated 2.5 million people are forced into forced labor, including sexual exploitation at any given time as a result of trafficking. and 161 countries are reported to be affected by human trafficking by either a source, transit country or final destination. an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. os move the trafficking victims are between the ages of 18 and

24. nancy riff vard is founder of airline ambassadors and works directly with innocence at risk, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about human trafficking. good to see you. >> nice to be here. >> give me an idea what airline ambassadors international does and how you believe you are able to help identify and help save a lot of young children, in particular? >> well, right. we -- i started at this humanitarian organization in 1996 and we began as flight attendants, using our pass privileges to help children. and we have expanded to doctors and builders and engineers, retirees and students. >> so, what is it that you saw as a flight attendant when you were traveling, what is it that provoked you to say, you know what i can use this privilege that i have as a flight attendant to help identify young people around the world and, you

know, kind of be their angel and help them? >> well, i will tell you the story. first of all, i have been living in haiti since january, we were successful in leveraging 17 airplanes and 3 million pounds of aid and i have seep a lot going on there. but to go back to the trafficking story, back last summer, i was on our humanitarian mission in cambodia, humanitarian missions every month, and our team found a little girl that was living with no clothes, no hair and we learned later, name. she was living like an animal on the dirt underneath a house where she had been abandoned by her mother who had worked in the karaoke bars nearby. the neighbors told us that the mother hopes somebody will take her had, we did and get her a safe house and i went to thailand, and i saw so many of the young girls that had been says basically sold into slavery

by their families, working in the night markets of thailand so famous. i went back and read in our union newsletter a group called innocent at risk and spearheading a flight attendant initiative to train flight attendants in this issue i called debra sigman, and invite herd on my next mission. the interesting thing when we left our small humanitarian team, we were aware of the issue. >> every airline -- >> do you end up having to work with the u.s. state department as well because you are intervening in various countries and you're identifying what you believe to be a troubled child, either removing them from that setting or finding some to other safe place and i imagine that there are lots of layers that have to be checked or gone

through, especially the state department. in order to do this use this privilege that you have as a flight attendant and through your own organization? >> let me just say how it started. on all three airlines that our team left on, jetblue, delta and u.s. air, there was an issue -- a trafficking incident that looked suspicious and we asked the flight attendants on each airline to take action. they didn't know how. we had these bracelets on from innocence at risk that give the human trafficking hotline number and we said, have the pilots call this number. so what happens was ice, immigrations customs enforcement was informed so went passengers got off the airplane and tried to go through customs, they were questioned and in every case, we were correct. so i went to congressman craig smith who offered the legislation on trafficking and asked him to give a congressional briefing to airline partners and we did in

july. >> so then what is your recommendation -- >> american. >> how might people be able to identify when it is not so obvious that a child or a woman or someone is in trouble and is in just dire need of some sort of intervention? >> well, this is the interesting thing is that 800,000 people, according to our numbers, are trafficked across international borders every day. and they are not hidden in a dark room somewhere. they are transported on airplanes and trains. some of the things we can look for, remain observant, number one. notice if they appear drugged or

ravenously hungry. >> then what do you? >> then if you feel that your instincts tell you that something is wrong or might be two girls traveling alone that say they are going to a modeling job, a great new job, no experience required and not sure who is meeting them that is another red flag. what we asked them to do is tell the pilots and have the pilots call the international authorities, they don't have to do much more, let's say i hope we are wrong, but if we are right, we might be saving life right here and every year airlines give emergency training to pilots and attendants so this is an easy way for air loons to sport international effort and train their flight attendants, become eyes and ears for internation security. >> nancy riff vard, the organization that you founded, airline ambassadors international, thanks so much for your time coming to us from

new york today. >> we are very happy, we just completed two safe houses for unicef as well, which we are building and developing airport training all over in haiti and dominican republic. this it is great to be here. >> thanks so much. i know you are doing a lot of great work here in haiti and the dominican, people are very appreciative of your generosity, your time and resources. >> the main thing is that we support not only awareness of the trafficking number but the support to international aid organizations, like airline ambassadors that are strengthening families and children every day in haiti to take them. and actually, by creating jobs, health, education, we will dare for these children like we are, we can create a situation where not so many children are vulnerable, and more of them have a future.

>> nancy riff vard, thanks so much. we really appreciate it. talk hurricane, hurricane igor when we come back, the outer bands, already pounding bermuda and apparently getting worse. we will check in with meteorologist jacqui jeras, right after this. you hear what they're up to now? some in congress are getting squeezed by the special interests again. trying to delay action and give polluters free reign to keep dumping toxic pollution into the air. the air our children breathe. letting big oil lobbyists get their way again, and again, and again. it's a last-minute bill, written by special interests,

looking for a payback. washington politicians need to get off the dime, and not let corporate polluters off the hook.

hurricane igigor is closingn on bermuda. jacqui jeras is right now in the weather center. . the buildings are very well

reinforced and prepared for major storms but, you know, the other issue is that this is such a long-duration event. tropical storm force winds, 39 miles per hour, since yesterday and enduring four hours with hurricane-force winds, at 74 miles per hour, plus. the sustained wind at this hour, 60 miles an hour. imagine if you were standing outside that wind, 60 miles per hour constantly pushing on trees that is going to cause a lot of damage, not to mention quite a bit of erosion into the coastal areas as well. this storm not just impacting bermuda but the united states, lots of reports now out of the carolinas as well as florida with rip current, beach erosion there as well. this is concerning a whole lot of people. the storm 100 miles away from bermuda now, winds 80 miles per hour this is a category 1 storm. such a huge system as well. there you can see the forecast

track tracked. see the hurricane force winds, basically all evening long and see those tropical storm-force winds into tomorrow. for those of you coast, too, by the way, your high surf and damaging conditions will last probably my monday, maybe possibly into tuesday as well. want to show you a little bit of fun, though, here, one of our i-reporters set us this video. she wanted on us to know that people are taking his storm seriously. she was on elbow beach and she caught these great pictures of kite surfers, looks like oh so much fun, though, doesn't it look like fun? >> i think i want to try that. >> danger, danger, but fun. >> yeah, that looks fun, fun. >> you know me, i had to say it. >> oh, my gosh. >> stay safe when you send i-reports. >> yeah, okay. next beach trip.

i'll work that one in. all right, appreciate it. maybe without a hurricane brewing -- >> and bring us video, by the way. thanks. world war ii, p.o.w.s return to japan for an apology.

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65 years is a long time to wait for an apology, but it finally came this week for six american p.o.w.s invited back to japan as honored guests instead of bitter enemies. the story from cnn's ken law. >> reporter: the final days of world war ii. japan had surrendered. america's prisoners of war finally free. earl swabbow was 17 when he was captured, held for almost four years in a japanese prison camp, worked nearly to death weighing

only 70 pounds. >> they made us all get out of our barracks and watch them shoos the six prisoners. i can't forget all these different things and a seen the a lot of atrocities. >> reporter: joseph alexander was just a boy who snuck into the military at age 14. a year later, he was america's youngest p.o.w. in world war ii. what he has wanted all these decades is a face-to-face apology. >> it will give us satisfaction, that's what we want. >> reporter: 65 years later, the horrors remain and what these six american p.o.w.s have come to reconcile from the country that once imprisoned them, the very first american world war ii prisoners invited by the government of japan for a peace visit. >> we're between 90 and 92. >> reporter: 90 and 92. >> i'm going to 91. >> reporter: lester was a radio operator for the u.s. army when he was captured. he survived what's known as the bataan death march. thousands died on that 86-mile march at the hands of the japanese military.

now, shaking hands with japanese government leaders, 10y shared a long-awaited message. >> our needs are very simple. we've never asked for much. the biggest thing we've asked for is recognition that we exist. >> reporter: an apology from japan's foreign minister who called their imprisonment inhumane treatment. much has changed in 65 years. this former p.o.w. camp now a modern-day company. this is a factory that produces chemicals. the united states and japan close allies for more than 50 years. but after all this time, the american veterans say what they need and the reason why they're here is some sort of official acknowledgement of what they went through when they were p.o.w.s here in japan. >> i kaem here for a purpose. >> reporter: that purpose says edward here from the management of the company where he was once a slave laborer. a meeting the company would not let us attend but one that jack

says is overdue. >> if they would all do the same, it would make such a big difference to us. they acknowledge what they did was wrong and, perhaps, it would make it easier on everybody. >> reporter: so they did acknowledge that to you. >> yes, right. >> reporter: 65 years after the war's end, some small peace for those who paid an enormous price. >> war is no good. i mean, it's no good for thoeb. there's losers on both sides. i think it's time for us to forgive and forget. >> reporter: cnn, tokyo. >> i'm frledricka whitfield. don lemon up is next. ♪

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